Yamaguchi becomes Placentia’s youngest mayor

CSUF student Jeremy Yamaguchi was 19 years old when he was elected to Placentia's City Council in 2008. Now, at 22, he's the youngest mayor in the city's history. STEVE ZYLIUS, REGISTER FILE PHOTO

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Jeremy Yamaguchi, then a 19-year-old candidate for the Placentia City Council chats with supporter Phil Bush during an election party in this 2008 photo. Yamaguchi is now the youngest mayor in the city's history, and plans to get youth more involved in city issues. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In this 2008 file photo, Jeremy Yamaguchi gets interviewed by a TV news crew in the Placentia city council chambers Wednesday soon after his election. STEVE ZYLIUS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jeremy Yamaguchi, then a 19-year-old Placentia city councilman, waves to the crowd at 2009's Heritage Festival Parade. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jeremy Yamaguchi, shown here soon after his election to the Placentia City Council in 2008, is now the youngest mayor in the city's history at the age of 22. He believes he's also the youngest Asian-Pacific Islander mayor currently serving in the country. STEVE ZYLIUS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

CSUF student Jeremy Yamaguchi was 19 years old when he was elected to Placentia's City Council in 2008. Now, at 22, he's the youngest mayor in the city's history. STEVE ZYLIUS, REGISTER FILE PHOTO

PLACENTIA – This month marks a couple of milestones in the young life of Jeremy Yamaguchi.

On Friday, he'll take his last final before earning his political science degree from Cal State Fullerton. And last week, his fellow City Council members elected him the mayor at the ripe old age of 22, making him the youngest mayor in the city's history.

"It's record-setting, and uplifting in addition to being an honor," Yamaguchi said. "But it's the same job if you're 70 or you're 22."

He's the youngest mayor to serve in Orange County in more than 20 years, and may be the youngest mayor in the state.

The county's Registrar of Voters doesn't keep records on how old mayors are, so it is unclear if Yamaguchi is the youngest ever in Orange County.

Yamaguchi, elected to the council at age 19, has plans for the coming year. He wants to establish office hours, certain times that he will be at City Hall, available to residents. He plans to visit every school in the city in the next year. Finally, he wants to revive the city's youth council to get young people's opinions on city issues.

Yamaguchi's family has long been involved in the community, something he said was an influence on him.

His mother, Peggy, helps plan local festivals and works with service organizations.

Yamaguchi's father, Brian, is a sergeant with the Placentia Police Department.

The mayor still lives with his parents, but he and his father don't discuss city business at home, he said, on the rare occasion they're home at the same time.

"No, for the most part, we talk about how our day was, and we go on from there," the younger Yamaguchi said.

Three years ago, Yamaguchi was one of six City Council candidates – along with two incumbents – running for three seats. The other candidates had an average age of 60. Yamaguchi won election with 8,000 votes, more than any other candidate.

As he heads into his year as mayor, he said he remembers one particular constituent he met soon after taking office.

"Someone I didn't know came up and introduced himself to me," Yamaguchi recalled. "He said, 'You don't need to remember my face. You just need to remember where you came from.' That really stuck with me. I haven't forgotten where I came from."

Connie Underhill, a City Council member since 1996, is in her 60s and has served twice as mayor. She was one of the unanimous votes to elect Yamaguchi as mayor, and said she's noted his diligence on the dais.

"He tries very hard to be well informed and seek out information to make up for his lack of practical experience," she said. "He's done pretty well with that."

When he's not attending to city business, and the ambitious goals he's set for himself, Yamaguchi serves on the California Republican Party Central Committee and plans to apply to law school.

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